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Australia Route
The Route around Australia − starting and finishing point Perth. A circumnavigation of Australia was not the original route which I had mapped out when planning to visit this amazing continent; in fact my original aim was for Sally and I to travel along the south coast from Perth to Melbourne and then to work our way northwards through Queensland, until we reached Cairns on the north eastern coast. After spending a few days on the Great Barrier Reef, we would then fly back to Perth, where we would pick up our connecting flight back to Dubai and then another-one to the U.K. However, once the thought had crossed my mind and a few investigative studies had been made, there was no going back. I was very dubious about travelling all the way across the north of the continent, as I had heard so many horror stories about cyclones, floods and people being trapped in far-off places, but I could not let Sally know my apprehensions – and I actually only told her that we were going to do it sometime after we had arrived in Oz! Maybe it was retribution for my secrecy, that we never made it to Cairns, or the Great Barrier Reef, but then our own personal cyclone did add spice to my story-line – and by god did we make up time by having to stay on a bus for twenty-seven hours or so! Ironically, when we finally reached Alice Springs, I was still coming to terms with having lost my opportunity to achieve one of my all-time goals, by scuba-diving in the greatest eco-system in the world, when disaster stuck again, as Sally and I had to turn-around, without making that final jaunt down to Ayres rock, because of personal circumstances. Convincing Sally to complete the rest of the journey was a feat in itself, but having to survive on what little money we had left made me appreciate the safety and sanctity of a ‘normal life’! However, like the hot-headed fool I have always been, if someone asked me now “Would you do it all again Shaun” – then my answer would surely be “Of course”. |
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